Regular program scheduled to bring you a special report from ABC News. Here is Ted Koppel.
It is over. At the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary, what you are looking at right now is a live picture of some of the 89 hostages who have been held now for 11 days by over a thousand Cuban prisoners at the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary.
Those hostages are now winding their way out. For the past 10 or 15 minutes, a rather elaborate signing ceremony has been taking place, during which members of the federal government and negotiators have been signing an agreement.
In that box on your television screen right now, you can see Bishop Agustín Roman, one of the men who helped negotiate the settlement, the first to sign the papers. Then each of the six Cuban negotiators was signing the agreement.
It is, I believe, an eight or nine part agreement, and a little bit later on we will give you the terms of that agreement. But in the larger picture that you see, that long line of people coming out, and you're seeing them now on the outside coming out of the building itself, those are the hostages who have been held for the last 11 days.
My colleague Al Dale, who's been covering this story now for as long as it has been going on, is standing by live in Atlanta outside the Federal Penitentiary. Al, what's the procedure now? What happens to those former hostages?
Well, Ted, we're told that first they will be going to meet up with their families, who are just yards away from them. Many of the families of these hostages have been here every day and night. You can perhaps hear some of the cheering already emanating from the compound that the government set up for the hostage families over there.
They will embrace them, of course. They will greet them. They will check out their well-being, and there will be a reunion time in a residence next to the Penitentiary, which I'm told used to be a warden's residence that was under renovation recently, but that's where they are set up to meet them.
In the picture now, you see Augustin Roman in a little better picture, closer up than a while ago. After that, perhaps after the reunion, there will be more complete medical checkups, but they appear to be fine. They're all ambulatory. They appear to be in good shape.
I was struck by the fact that many of them appear to be clean-shaved, so perhaps the conditions weren't all that bad in there, although of course after 11 days, they were all very glad to be out now.
Al, the miracle of this is that, and of course it's a little too early to render a final judgment, but apparently no injuries, although as far as physical violence is concerned, that is violence against the building itself, there has clearly been a great deal, and there have been moments of high tension. It seems quite miraculous that no one was hurt.
Well, actually there was in the beginning one death and several injuries, but from that point, there was not, and the detainees made it very plain from the beginning, as they took control, that they wanted to treat the hostages humanely.
They made that a very constant comment that they would make to anyone who would listen, that they were not interested in hurting anyone, and the authorities showed restraint too on the other side.
The picture that we're looking at right now, Al, and the camera's starting to pull back, is of some of the Cuban inmates who were witnessing through that grill the signing ceremony, which was participated in by six of their representatives, and a few moments ago you may have seen one of them dressed very colorfully with what appeared to be a robe made of a Cuban flag stitched to the stars and stripes.
That's what it did appear to be, yes. And they have made the point also very clearly that they really want to stay in this country, and their main idea was to show that they could be good Americans and deserve to stay here.
They have hoped to, through the things that they would say over loudspeakers and all, to get, clearly make that point to the American people, that they love this country and didn't want to go back to Cuba.
All right, Al, let me just interrupt you for a moment, because what we're going to do is put up a box right now. We will continue to show you these live pictures as they're coming through.
The box will contain some tape, some videotape that was taped literally about five or six minutes ago, and Gary LaShaw, who is an Atlanta legal aide, will be reading in English the terms of the agreement that was signed between the two.
I take the emphasis on English because prior to his reading of the terms in English, someone else read the terms of that agreement in Spanish.
Here now, Gary LaShaw with the terms of the agreement that was signed.
Upon the release of all remaining officers being held in the compound at the USP Atlanta, the following agreement will immediately be enforced.
One, Cuban detainees with families and or sponsors who have already been approved for parole will not have any arbitrary change made in their release decision.
Two, the release of the Cuban detainees with no family or sponsor who have already been approved for parole will be reviewed in a decision made within a reasonable time, the process to be completed by June 30th, 1988.
All Cuban detainees at USP Atlanta who have not been reviewed yet will receive an expeditious review of their status, and those eligible for release will be given the same consideration as those covered by points number one and number two above.
Three, all Cuban detainees at USP Atlanta with medical problems will be sent immediately to medical facilities for evaluation and treatment.
Once these detainees are cleared medically, they will be given the same consideration as those covered by points number one and number two above.
Four, Cuban detainees at USP Atlanta who are approved for parole will be given I-94 and other INS documents, including work permit, when they are released.
No Cuban detainee will be held by INS without an appropriate charge.
Five, no Cuban detainees will be held liable for any damage to this state sustained by the institution during the hostage situation at this facility.
There will be no physical reprisals against the detainees.
No prosecution except for specific acts of actual assault or violence against persons or major misconduct.
This does not include mere act of participation in the disturbance, failing to depart Atlanta penitentiary during the disturbance, or acts causing property damage.
Six, it is understood that the American cadre at USP Atlanta did not have any part in this situation and can be removed immediately.
Seven, Cuban detainees who desire to go to a third country and who are accepted by a third country will be reviewed very quickly and will be permitted to depart with proper documentation and barring criminal action pending.
It is the option of any detainee to apply for acceptance by a third country and any detainee will be given the opportunity to make such an application.
Such an application should be made quickly after the disturbance is resolved if a detainee does not have such acceptance already.
Eight, as previously stated by the US Attorney General, a moratorium has been declared on the return of the Cuban nationals to Cuba with reference to those Cubans who came to the United States in 1980 via the Port of Mariel.
This moratorium includes all Cubans detained in the US and will ensure a fair review of each Cuban status with respect to his eligibility to remain in the US.
Thank you.
All right. That last yell of what sounded like approval there was in fact the voice vote by which the negotiating committee for the Cuban prisoners indicated their approval of that agreement that has now finally been reached.
And as I indicated to you earlier, what you have been seeing in the larger picture and what you are seeing right now is the continuing release of those 89 hostages who've been held.
Many of them have been coming out smoking what looks suspiciously like Cuban cigars and all of them looking exceedingly well.
Now there's no way of measuring what kind of an ordeal they have been through over the past 11 days.
But there seems to be some genuine affection between the men who have been held, the hostages and the hostage keepers.
And indeed, you know, those few people who have been released have indicated that the hostage takers, the prisoners, the Cuban prisoners have treated the hostages rather well.
Tell you what we're going to do. We are going to wrap up the special report now.
And at 2 30 Eastern Time, we will have a special report which will actually be our nightline for the West Coast, that is, on the West Coast at 1130 your time, Pacific Time.
We will have a nightline report bringing you up to the with the very latest details and what's been happening here and an examination of the details of the agreement.
And that nightline will be fed as a special report all across the country.
So we'll be back in just about an hour and 10 minutes with the rest of this story.
I'm Ted Copeland Washington. Good night.
This special report came to you from ABC News. We now resume our regular program schedule.
And we now rejoin the ABC Thursday night movie Plaza Suite in progress.